What primers are you using?

[Trebor Snave]

Today I discovered that my Contender does NOT like CCI Large Rifle Magnum primers.  Now I've got to pull 20 cartridges apart and re-prime the cases.  Going to try some CCI Large Rifle primers next.

What do you use?

[Dee]

What makes you think it's the primer? Have you used, that brass, that bullet, and that powder, and charge before with a different primer and gotten better results out of the same weapon?
Your question on what primer I use? What ever is the cheapest. CCI, WINCHESTER, FEDERAL.

[Dezynco]

There are a couple of things that can be happening:

-Primers not seated well into the primer pockets
-Hard to crack primers
-Weak hammer spring
-Headspacing on rimless cartridges

The Contenders don't (in my opinion) have a very hard hammer strike in the first place, so a combination of stiff primers and wimpy hammer strut spring are most likely your problem.  That's exactly what my G2 was doing - failing to fire about every 3rd or 4th round.

I switched to large pistol primers and everything works OK.  However, I completely took my G2 apart and gave the hammer strut spring a little stretch, just to see if it made any difference - now my G2 will crack the CCI's without any trouble.  I don't know how long this will work before the spring goes back to it's original state.  I might consider dropping a small washer down into the spring seat to "preload" the spring, or just go back to using pistol primers (after all, the Contender is basically a pistol with a pistol-type hammer and spring).

[charles p]

What Contender cartridge requires a large rifle magnum primer?  Maybe you can use another primer?

[Trebor Snave]

Dee, I think it's the primer because I'm seeing what I'd call a light primer strike.  New (to me) barrel, these were the first rounds I'd put in it.  What makes it odd is that it will fire them, if it's just primed brass, every time.

Dezynco, the brass has been full length resized, trimmed to minimum, flash hole uniformed, primer pocket uniformed, primers seated flush or slightly below the face.  I'm pretty sure they're seated right.  Hard to crack primers is my thought, or yeah, weak hammer spring.  It's a rimmed cartridge, 30-30 actually.

Charles, the reason I tried the magnum primers is because I'm doing some experimenting with H-335 and one of my manuals recommended using a magnum primer with that powder.

Sorry, guess I should have been a little more explicit in the OP.

[Dezynco]

Oddly enough, my 30-30 barrel is the barrel that I have the most trouble with.....second only to my 7.62x39 barrel.  Go figger'??

I would consider trying standard primers, see how well it works.  If it doesn't light off well, just stay away from H-335.  You might also try Large Magnum Pistol to get a good ignition. 

Of course the other option would be to do what I did if you don't feel "iffy" about taking the whole thing apart and tweaking the hammer spring.  There's really not a whole lot of stuff in the frame of a Contender G2, but I've never taken an original Contender apart completely.

Oh, one other thing - are you using a hammer extension?  The little bit of added extra weight can cause them to fail to fire occasionally.  I don't use them anymore on my Contenders because of that.

[Trebor Snave]

Nope, no extension.  I figure I'll just start stepping down in primer sensitivity - LR, LPM, LP - until I get good reliable ignition.  And if H-335 just won't light, I'll switch to Varget or something.

[Dee]

Trebor, although I have never used them in a TC, I have loaded and fired thousands of rounds in the 3030. What load would you possibly need a magnum primer in this round. The 3030 in the TC is inherently accurate I am told and this is with standard loadings. If you are getting light primer strikes there are numerous reasons for that, and it doesn't necessiarly involve the primer.

[Grumulkin]

Actually, I use CCI 250 (large rifle magnum primers) for my Contender in 357 Herrett since, upon testing, those primers gave significantly better accuracy than some others I tried.  Though I have no problem lighting them in my Contender, those primers are a bit harder than those of other brands so may not work well with a weak hammer spring.  I'd suggest replacing the hammer spring or going to Federal, Winchester or Remington primers.

Most of the time there would be no advantage to using CCI 250 primers in 30/30 cartridges even when using ball powders like H335.  I've found the must use magnum primers with ball powders axiom to be fallacy.  As a matter of fact, I've found more instances of better accuracy with magnum primers with stick powders than with ball powders.

[DirtyDan]

Do a search for "hottest primers", you should see Rem 91/2s give the most fire.

I load a max charge of H-335 (Speer Man.) and light 'em with Win. LRP in my Marlin and have never had a problem.

[Catfish]

Did you check you fireing pin??? I had a problem with lite hammer strike and it kept getting worse. I thought it was primers untill I took a good look at the fireing pin.

[David D.]

I have used CCI primers for the past 30 years. About any and ever they have made. The only time I have had a problem was due to proper head space.

You say above that you full length resized your brass. The 30-30 in a break action should be head spaced off of the shoulder, not the rim. One of two things or both may play into this. Frame to barrel gap, rim recess in the barrel to deep.

Take a fired case and resize only kissing the shoulder and try not bumping it back. I bet your problem gos away.